Some Comments on Yesterday from Debbie

I realize I have not posted once since we left,  but Annie is just so good at it!  I love reading her posts and looking at the pictures at the end of each day.  And I especially love reading the comments.  Thank you all so much!  

 I haven’t been getting much sleep--so leaving this up to her has been great!  Last night I actually slept 6 hours, so I expect I’m getting over my jet lag and nervousness (now that we have that visa!).

The people here are so kind,  I feel like I did when we were here last year.  That I need to stay and get lessons in niceness.  It truly is a polite and caring culture.  

Sarah-Grace’s English teachers were so kind to her and were so obviously fond of her.  I just see over and over how God has taken care of her during this part of her life.  Just as we have been praying!

The school visit was so much fun.  It was a chance for us to see a very everyday part of the children’s life here in Taiwan.  In doing this I also noted how different certain things are here than in the US.  

There was actually a little ceremony of greeting Sarah-Grace and wishing her well and a chance for each student to share a good wish for her.  When the principal arrived in the room we were all expected to stand (so different than our culture)All the adults were served tea.   Even though I am sure each of these administrators is very busy they spent about 2 hours with us showing us around the school.

We were told that the school is built around a courtyard and from the sky the whole building looks like a fish with the fountain in the middle being the eye.  The fish is facing toward a river that runs nearby.  This goes with the story of Chiang Kai-shek, who when he was young,  saw a fish struggling to go upstream and it convinced him to work hard in his life.  The principal said this is their hope for the children in the school.  

We also toured the goat pen and heard about the program they have of breeding and caring for the goats.  The children in grades 3 through 6 cycle through the program.  I thought Sarah-Grace was maybe a bit wary of those goats!  She was too young when she attended this school to take part in the program.  She was here in kindergarten, first and the beginning of second grade.  She finished 2nd grade and most of third in the school near Jonah House.  If you look at the pictures you will see that all the kids wear uniforms:yellow shirts and green shorts for gym days, pink stripped dresses for girls and blue shorts and blue and white stripped shirts with big collars for the boys.  They all look so cute.